We trained December 31st until 1PM. Some of the older girls left together for the latest Adam Sandler movie. And then on to a New Year’s Eve sleepover party.
The life of the gymnast.
Regular training resumes Friday.
Happy New Year to you and yours.
enjoy the ride in 2009
SanazM by email
boom goes the dynamite – 1980s
TP recommended this montage of “big trick” skills from the not-so-distant past. A number of banned skills are included.
Bars has changed the most. Clips are included from the utterly embarrassing bar routine of 1984 Olympic Champion Mary Lou Retton. (She’d be a specialist in our era. And I don’t mean a “bars specialist”.)
Click PLAY or watch it on YouTube.
Brazil gymnastics news
The many problems in Brazil are being well documented by Triple Full and other blogs.
I won’t report them here.
On a related good news note, former Brazilian National Coach Marcelo Figueiredo is back in the gym, now in Vegas.
… He trained Brazil’s finest female gymnasts to three Olympic games, two Pan American Games gold medals and 10 South American Games championships. …
The lucrative nightclub business is what lured Figueiredo away from gymnastics after he coached Brazil in the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He moved to Los Angeles to be a full-time disc jockey. Figueiredo relocated again to Las Vegas in 2003, when he was offered a job as resident disc jockey at Krave nightclub.
But Figueiredo, who coached gymnastics since he was 16, missed the sport and grew tired of being DJ Talla on a regular basis.
“You change your life,” Figueiredo said. “You’re up nights instead of days. You sleep late. You wake up and eat lunch instead of breakfast.”
After about a year living in the desert, Figueiredo picked up the phone book looking for gyms that needed coaches. The first one listed was Brown’s Gymnastics, which happened to be about a mile from his residence …
Las Vegas Sun – Famous coach returns to gymnastics after playing tunes for nightclub patrons
Gymnastics Year in Review
Click over to the Couch Gymnast for a nice overview of 2008 for Women’s Artistic Gymnastics.
The DOWNS: Anna Pavlova, U.S Injury-apoloooza, Chinese Age Controversy, Emilia Eberle, Achilles tendons … and more.
The UPS: Beijing, Chussovitina, Liukin, 2008 The Year of the Uneven Bars, Izbasa, Liang Chow … and more.
The Couch Gymnast …… Year in Review !!!
boom goes the dynamite 3
The best montage I’ve seen in … months.
Another from fb07.
Click PLAY or watch Dream Gymnastics Montage on YouTube.
Love the dramatic music from the Requim For a Dream soundtrack.
Rings – Elite Strength Trainer
Tyler Hass of RingTraining.com has a new product, selling for $69.95 until January 1st.
With the Elite Strength Trainer, you get 10 levels of resistance, from approximately 60% to 100% compared to normal rings. The Elite Strength Trainer reduces the leverage on your arms, which makes skills like the Cross and Maltese much easier. The EST can easily attach to a set of rings or to a bar. The straps are 5′ long, so we recommend attaching them to your rings if you have high ceilings or wish to lower the ETS to the floor.
Tyler emailed:
A few months ago, I took a prototype to the national team training center. I met with Kevin Mazeika, head coach of the US Olympic Team, and Jordan Jovtchev, 5-time Olympian, and they both offered me some feedback on the design. Within 15 minutes of setting them up in the gym, I had almost a dozen national and Olympic caliber gymnasts from the American and Japanese teams try it out. They had all used equipment in the past that worked on the same principle, but unanimously preferred the design of the Elite Strength Trainer. They liked that it had a lot of adjustment points, it was quick to adjust and easy to set up and comfortable to use. …
details – Elite Strength Trainer
I’ll link to videos of these in use when they become available.
buy my book – Shawn Johnson
Shawn Johnson: Olympic Champion: Stories Behind the Smile
21.99Limited Edition Autographed Shawn Johnson: Olympic Champion: Stories Behind the Smile
50.00
Where to send your money – Hy-Vee.com
I saw this too-late-for-Christmas gift idea linked from an excellent, well-informed new blog called All Gymnastics, All the time.
Up to date information about all the disciplines of gymnastics..
It covers Rhythmic, Trampoline Sports, Aerobic and Acrobatic Gymnastics.
1-arm basketball player Kevin Laue
Kevin Laue (18 years old in 2008) is a 6’10” tall American high school student and basketball player from Pleasanton, California. He was born with one arm and has been recognized for his skills and success in overcoming adversity. In 2008 he was playing at a military academy in Virgina and is a prospect for collegiate play.
In 2007 Sports Illustrated called him “the most exciting player in basketball”.
His story is inspirational, for sure.
Click PLAY or watch Kevin Laue on YouTube.
Kevin got a big write-up too in the NY Times – Prospect Provides Inspiration With What He Doesn’t Have
He reminds me of the even more amazing 1-armed gymnast Carol Johnston. She went on to become an NCAA apparatus champion featured in the Disney film called Lefty.
motivated by Dominique Dawes
Triple Olympian Dominique Dawes is one of the greatest gymnasts of all time.
She was 10-year member of the U.S. national gymnastics team, the 1994 U.S. all-around senior National Champion a three-time Olympian, a World Championships silver medalist and a member of the gold-medal winning “Magnificent Seven” at the 1996 Summer Olympics. Dawes is also notable as being the first African-American to win an individual Olympic medal in artistic gymnastics. …
Supporting her work in Motivational Coaching for girls age 12-18 is a new audio CD.
pursuing your passion developing a plan staying persistent overcoming setbacks and obstacles Order your copy online today! For bulk orders send an email to info (AT) dominiquedawes.com
(via Chalk Bucket)
Gymnastics Coaching.com 